The organs that correspond with summer are the Heart, and in late summer towards the transition to autumn when the weather is hot and humid, the Spleen. The Kidneys are also their lowest energy point in the cycle and need some support during the summer.

In Chinese medicine, the Heart is considered to be the Emperor of all organs. In other words, all organs are important to make our bodies strong and healthy, but the most important organ of all is still the Heart. The Heart controls the blood circulation and in charge of protecting the blood vessels. In addition, the Heart is directly responsible for our consciousness, sleep, memory functions. The Heart provides a haven for the spirit, commonly known as the Shen (神 –Please note that the character for Shen, the spirit, is the same character referring to God). The Heart is most susceptible to external and internal heat.

Those with healthy heart are well-grounded, not easily overwhelmed by outside influences. When the Heart-Kidney relationship is weak, the Shen escapes from its stable base in the Heart, and moved to the head, where thoughts rush around uncontrolled. Over time, this causes excessive worries, insomnia, irregular heartbeat, and wild dreams.

Those who already have heart-related conditions such as high blood pressures, atrial fibrillation (rapid and irregular heartbeat, fluttering or thumping on the chest, dizziness, shortness of breath, faintness or confusion, fatigue when exercising, etc.), or previous history of stokes need to be extra careful during the hot summer season. In addition to avoiding excessive heat, one needs to adopt a sensible diet, enough rest, and calm attitudes to protect the heart.

The weather of this summer has been nothing but usual: record-breaking burning hot days, and non-stop rain with high humidity forecasted for the next few weeks. These crazy weather patterns seem to be universal all around the globe. Our precious Heart, which has been under so much stress due to an extremely volatile and chaotic energy surrounding this planet, is the most vulnerable during the summer months. Chinese medicine considers Ming Mu beans as one of the most effective remedy in protecting our heart during the summer season.

The good news is that you don’t need to know exactly where the muscles are or what their names are. Wherever it hurts and feels tense around the suboccipital area, apply gentle but firm pressure, two or three minutes at one place, then move to the next tender spot.

Personally, I start with the mid-centerline right underneath the occiput, using my middle finger on both sides, tilting the head slightly backward. Very often, I am startled to find out how much of tension there is on that point. About two minutes will do the job.

Then, I move my fingers downward, slightly outside of the mid-centerline. I stay at tender spots for about two minutes.

The next step is go to wherever there is tenderness in the whole region. Since I am well aware of major acupuncture points in the area, I go through several points such as:

Gallbladder 20: Headache; visual dizziness; pain and stiffness of the neck; painful reddening of the eyes; deep-source nasal congestion; pain in the shoulder and back; heat diseases; common cold; epilepsy.

Some people use tennis ball, massage instruments, and/or some other apparatus. I’ve found that nothing works better, faster than your own fingers. If you have bad arthritis on the fingers, use some towel, roll it up tightly, and lay on top of it, placing the towel right under the occiput.

It usually takes 10 minutes to release the tension in the suboccipital area. You will be amazed at how wonderful you will feel if you practice these self-acupressure on yourself. Not only your tension and headaches will be minimized, you will feel much clearer in your thinking, even feel peaceful. If you have tendency to have “excessive nervous talking, mania, and/or hysteria,” this self massage will certainly help a great deal.

The suboccipital muscles are a group of four muscles located on each side of the back of the neck just below the base of the skull. The muscles connect the skull with the top two vertebrae of the neck. Located right underneath the occipital bone (the pronounced protrusion of the back of the head), there are four paired muscles as shown in the picture.

These muscles are designed to sit right on top of the cervical spine, however, most of us tend to lean forward habitually. Texting, using computers, or even when we eat, we place our ears way forward than our shoulders. As a result, these suboccipital muscles tend to get stretched too much on one wide, crunched up, and stiffened over time. Misalignment of the suboccipital muscles becomes a prime cause of head and neck tension and shoulder aches. Prolonged neck tension may permeate toward the frontal area, causing temple and frontal headaches, and may interfere with the blood flow to the eyes, resulting in painful & burning eye syndromes.

Over the course of years of treating human body, I’ve found close to 100% of people over the age of 35 have very stiff neck. Stiff and rigid neck often accompany migraines, shoulder pain, frontal sinus headaches, and eye pain. It’s hard to believe, but stiff neck is also directly associated with the lower back and sacrum pain. There’s an easy way to deal with these issues: self-massage the suboccipital muscles, behind your head.

I discovered this exercise only a few weeks ago after I did a frantic research on tinnitus for my patient. Turned out to be this “Beating the Heaven Drum” is an age-old Taoist Qigong exercise, practiced mostly by Taoist monks in northern China. This exercise is refuted to be a valuable tool in aiding and maintaining a healthy ear, hearing mechanism, and maintaining a clear mentality. There are two ways to do this exercise.

Method 1

Take a moment to relax by breathing slowly and deeply sitting on a chair or on the floor. When ready, close the ear canal by pressing on the tragus (stick-out part in front of ear canal) with your index finger.

Tap gently on your index finger with the same hand’s middle finger, in a slow steady rhythm. Tap 12, 24 or 36 times and then release the fingers from the ears and rest. Tap both ears simultaneously or alternatively on each ear. Repeat the cycle three times. Ideally, you need to do this exercise one to three times a day, depending on the severity of ear ringing.

When tapping on the index finger, make sure you hear a hollow metallic drum-like sound. The pressure shouldn’t be too hard, but firm enough to elicit metallic sounds. The key is to maintain a relaxed state of mind, not rushing through the exercise, focusing on the maximum benefit not only for the ears, but for the entire body.

Method 2

Take time and relax for a few minutes breathing in and out slowly. Close your ears by placing your palms over them, with your fingers facing towards the back of the head. Tap the back of your head with all eight fingers, OR place your index fingers right underneath the occiput (the pronounced protrusion of skull, slightly above the base of the skull), and then put the middle fingers over your index fingers and snap them down on the occipital bone.

The best results can be achieved through a steady pulse of beating. Again, tap 12, 24 or 36 times using either the alternating or simultaneous tapping. Repeat the sequence 3 times a day.

Some people report immediate relief with this exercise, while for some, it takes a few days to see a real impact. Repeat the tapping as long as ringing persists.

Note: Another excellent relief can be found by placing heated salt pouch (2 Tsp of heated salt in a cotton pouch) over the ears for about 10 minutes.

Let’s talk about about tinnitus a bit. Affecting one out of every 20 Americans, tinnitus (the Latin word for ringing) is a condition that causes unwelcome noises in the ears such as buzzing, clicking, whistling, or high-pitched ringing sounds. It can happen to anyone, regardless of age, although its occurrence increases with age. Some speculate that usage of cell phones may have contributed to the rise of tinnitus.

Tinnitus is almost always associated with hearing loss. The sounds may be intermittent, continuous, or pulsing. It may interfere with normal activities, tend to get worse during the evenings and night. Causes of tinnitus include a degenerative auditory nerve, ear infections, neurological problems, sensorineural hearing loss, and Meniere’s disease. Some prescription medications and chemotherapy can also cause tinnitus. Well, that’s what western medicine says about tinnitus.

Chinese medicine, on the other hand, says that tinnitus (or any other hearing issues) is caused by: